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Related news & insights - Rebecca Andrews-Walker

Taking control of the school (cash) register
Posted: 18/07/2025
Independent schools are typically registered as charities and therefore adopt a higher standard of practice in their operation. Their insolvency attracts a suite of particular considerations that can be problematic if not planned for......>>
Avoiding detention as a trustee of an independent school
Posted: 17/07/2025
With financial pressures ever increasing in the independent school sector, trustees must be alive to solvency issues now more than ever. Despite typically being laypersons, trustees are expected to have the same knowledge as a professional director and ensure that an independent school does not enter into an academic year without knowing if it will complete it......>>
Unveiling the hidden fault lines: how VAT exposes deeper financial vulnerabilities in private schools
Posted: 23/06/2025
The imposition of VAT on private school fees has put a number of schools under renewed financial pressure. Politically presented as a levelling measure between the state and private sectors, it has had a clear operational impact. But from a restructuring and insolvency perspective, VAT is not the root cause of distress – it is the trigger that is......>>
Record fine on the University of Sussex for governance breaches: what next for a sector already in financial distress?
Posted: 05/06/2025
On 26 March 2025, the independent regulator for higher education, the Office for Students (OfS) imposed a record £585,000 fine on the University of Sussex for governance breaches relating to freedom of speech and academic freedom. The level of the fine, together with suggestions from the OfS that this may be the first of several......>>
Priorities under pressure: what can (and cannot) be paid in distressed private schools
Posted: 05/06/2025
Independent schools are increasingly operating within a tightening financial and regulatory environment. Alongside sector specific challenges – such as rising operating costs, demographic shifts, and reputational and regulatory risks – broader government policy is beginning to bite. Changes such as VAT exemptions on school fees have......>>
Penningtons Manches Cooper strengthens restructuring team with specialist insolvency hire
Posted: 02/06/2025
Top 50 law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper has expanded its restructuring and insolvency practice with the appointment of managing associate Rachel Brown. Rachel’s arrival further enhances the firm’s capabilities in complex insolvency matters. A highly experienced commercial litigator and insolvency specialist, her practice focuses......>>
Do ‘zombies’ still roam the halls of Companies House?
Posted: 31/10/2023
The term ‘zombie company’ refers to companies which generate just enough cash to operate and service their debt, but not enough to invest in growth. They exist in a form of ‘half-life’. The significant period where the Bank of England’s base interest rate was close to zero, which made borrowing incredibly cheap, allowing companies......>>

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